“This poor woman had two valves diseased, both of them stressing her heart out, giving her heart failure,” said Dr. Sanjiv Kaul, head of cardiovascular medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), speaking of Katherine Anderson, a 31-year-old Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) prisoner. “Any person with decent common sense ...
By Mark Wilson
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that California’s “Child Abuse Central Index” (CACI) database violates due process because identified individuals are not given a fair opportunity to challenge the allegations against them.
Under California Penal Code §11170(a)(2), any “substantiated” or “inconclusive” reports of child abuse are ...
By Mark Wilson
An Oregon jail guard was sentenced to 20 days in jail and 18 months of bench probation for sexually abusing three female detainees.
As we’ve previously reported, on May 13, 2010, Clackamas County, Oregon Jail Deputy Darin Leslie Fox, 38, was indicted on; one count of felony ...
By Mark Wilson
“I lock in the hole now the staff say I die at Alexander” Correctional Institution (ACI), wrote mentally ill North Carolina prisoner Timothy Helms on June 20, 2008.
Fifteen days later, guards had beaten him so severely that he still had billy club impressions on his upper ...
By Mark Wilson
In a March 13, 2008 report, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office concluded that at least two prisoners at the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) – Oregon’s largest jail – died of inadequate medical care and neglect.
In February 2005, Jody Norman arrived at MCDC during the ...
On April 22, 2010, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Pennsylvania prison records officer was entitled to qualified immunity for a prisoner allegedly being confined 10 months beyond his maximum term of imprisonment.
On August 11, 1992, Miguel Montanez was sentenced to 60 months in prison with ...
The estate of a woman who died of pneumonia at the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) in Portland, Oregon has agreed to settle a federal wrongful death suit for $905,000.
Homeless heroin addict Holly Jean Casey, 36, was arrested on January 3, 2008 for failure to appear in court on ...
On December 22, 2010, the South Carolina Court of Appeals upheld a $372,000 verdict in favor of a prison warden who was wrongfully terminated by the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC).
In 2002, SCDC Investigator Karen Hair was assigned to the Lee Correctional Institution (LCI). Hair did not get ...
By Mark Wilson
The Washington State Court of Appeals held that a prisoner was deprived of a constitutionally adequate disciplinary hearing when a hearings officer refused to read the documentary evidence he offered.
Washington prisoner Allan Parmelee was confined in an Intensive Management Unit. While guards were conducting a “card ...
By Mark Wilson
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a California prisoner’s §1983 action for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
California prisoner Leonard Marella was stabbed by fellow prisoners. After two days in a hospital, he was transferred to the infirmary and then to ...
